The noon-day devil made a home
settled and unapologetic
below the heavy camouflage.
Above and sheltered
the stealthy fur-twitch nuisance
poised and ready, aims.
Fire! Ricochet! Repeat!
A flit of scatter,
and the bucket startles to attention
clanging empty.
First memory. Then hush.
And eye to nature's eye
resolve appears,
the gift of silent conversation.
"Wake up!
Acedia Be Gone!
The keeper of the empty bucket orchestrates the filling."
NYE 2020 DFetterly
If you feel your bucket too light or even empty, what are you going to do to fill it? I’m wishing each of you the will and energy to take those steps.
Namaste.
OMG ..
I wasn’t aware that you are a poet, you beautiful thing.
A very modest poet, M-R, but I am so happy to connect with you, and appreciate your kind comment. I truly hope the new year brings you continued health, peace and a “bucket” that’s full! ❤️
Beautiful. Happy New Year!
Thank you so much, Eva Marie. I do hope you and your family are doing well as we conclude a challenging year. Blessings for a healthy, peace-filled new year, my friend.
Well said, Debra!
Tonight I’m filling my bucket (or should that be my gullet?) with homemade pizza, hopping John, and greens! That should fill my bucket with LUCK in the new year.
Sending your some of the same!
I always appreciate your positivity, Nancy, and your NYE meal is right up my alley, too. We are very quietly being grateful tonight, and my bucket also feels very full with contentment. Sending you my best wishes for a healthy, peace-filled 2021.
Here’s to a better 2021. I learned to get my own tools and fill my own bucket in 2019, so I’m great. Hope your New Years celebration is lovely.
Cheers to you, Andra. Continued well-being and contentment. 🙂
Namaste Debra. Cheers to a lovely New Year’s Eve and a peaceful and happy 2021.
It’s wonderful to hear from you, Lisa, and to be in a position to wish you a very happy 2021. I always enjoy your positive outlook. All the best! And thank you.
Cheers to your view of one’s bucket from your inner poet. Happy New Year to you and yours – and may 2021 move toward a brighter light.
Thank you, Frank. I am very drawn to the image of moving toward a brighter light! You have your own poetry, my friend. Wishing you continued health and contentment in this very much anticipated 2021.
Much can be said at the brighter light. Well done. Meanwhile, Pasadena wasn’t quite the same this year – but may all the craziness return next year.
What a nice entry into a new year. Thank you!
Thank you, as well, my friend. I wish the very best for you and your family in the coming year, Jim. I am cultivating as much positive energy as I can, so that I have enough to share. 😀
Greetings from the other coast, Debra. Hopefully, this will be a better year and thanks to you, I already learned a new word in 2021… Acedia. Now I need to work on mine.
Understood, Ray. I would truly recommend Kathleen Norris’s book, “Acedia and Me” as a treasure. Even Googling her name you’d find her fascinating, and she’s a podcast guest on some of my favorite podcasts. Wishing you well and thank you for stopping by and sharing. Much appreciated.
Thank you Debra. Being aware of the contents is the first start. I must take inventory. Happy New Year!!!
No matter how many times we tell ourselves that “resolutions” are a trap, I do think that taking inventory, excellent term, are valuable. I wish the very best for you and your family, Colleen. Thank you so much for stopping by.
My pleasure, and you are welcome!
This is beautiful my friend. Happy New Year!
Thank you so very much. I’m so glad that we can share the new year together. I hope the very best for each of us.❤
Happy New Year!
And to you, as well, Kate! You have a lot of change going on, so I really do send my best energy your way. Thankfully, I’m currently tanked up. LOL! (With energy, that is!)
Happy New Year Debra!
And new year’s blessings to you, too, Cathy. Thank you!
I’m going to kick the tyres and fire up the truck – which one I don’t know yet 😉 Fascinating poem – hope to read some more in the future – Happy New Year Debra 🙂
I love seeing the American landscape through your trucking routes, Martin. I always smile when I feel like I recognize a route. And thanks for reading the poetry. I have written poetry for years and it took 2020 to bring me to the point where I thought, why not?
I’m feeling guilty about an empty bucket, Debbie, but very admiring of your poetry 🙂 🙂
I have had many “empty bucket” moments this past year, Jo. Some have been of short duration and others lasted a season. I have been saying to myself, and other friends expressing the same concern, that we need to be very kind and patient with ourselves while we are in such extraordinary times. Thank you for the very kind compliment, my friend, and I can’t tell you how many consecutive days I sat near that bucket and did nothing more than listen to the birds and watch the pesky squirrels. It took time to absorb all that affects energy and momentum. I hope you find your own bucket very full as the year moves forward. And I surely do send hugs your way!
I’d like to fill my bucket with more of your poetry, Debra! And “acedia” was a new word for me as well. Thank you! Wishing you a wonderful 2021.
Thank you, Gail. I wish you the same in a wonderful year. I appreciate your encouragement. 🙂
Wishing you a healthy and happy year ahead. Hopefully all our buckets will start to fill.
Thank you, Karen. I am so glad you stopped by, and wish you all the best health and happiness this year!
Beautifully said, Debra. I’m recommitting to blogging and crafting this year, two things that fill my soul. Sending love and light your way. Thanks for sharing the beautiful poem. Alys
Thank you, Alys, and I hope we can just continue to encourage each other with the support to follow those “bucket filling” desires and interests.
I agree! xo
I Loved your poetry! My bucket is filling up! I just read a book given to me by my niece it Echo Mountain by Lauren Wolk! I felt like a kid again when I read it. I could not put it down. It had everything in it I needed at the time. It has caused me to want to write again and yes even do poetry. So here goes!
I often find a new start, a new dream, a new hope. As I look! I sometimes have to let go of an old belief or take on a new one. Just as the sun sets, it is new every day and as the Sun rises, it is new every day. So I ask? can we be like the physical Sun and as the Son of God and live a life that way. Like the Ocean and its waves that wash clean the sand, I am just as it Lord! wash me clean as the new sand. Be my fighter when I am too weak, and give me rest and sleep when nothing like peace is within my sight. You are my deliverer, turn this dark night into a Victorious Bright saving light. Love Debi
I can hear that the new year is offering you many opportunities, and I thank you for sharing your own story. Blessings to you in 2021, my friend.
Happy New Year, Debra!
Thank you so much, Philip. I appreciate you stopping by, and hope the new year is filled with peace and good health for you and your loved ones, as well.
Hi Debra and Happy New Year! I started blogging again and have a new blog too – I’m looking forward to seeing what you are up to… 🙂
I did find your new blog, Meg, and I was delighted. Good for you! And thanks for stopping by to see where I’ve been as well. Lots of twists and turns, but all is well. 🙂
Dear Debra, thank you for this provocative poem that helps me realize and accept that my bucket’s been empty and I’ve entered a scheduled lull of inactivity that precludes accomplishing anything.And when I don’t have something to look backward on at night and see that life has offered me goodness, then I can so easily enter a lull of malaise.
To counter this, I’ve been blogging and writing again and accepting that putting myself on a rigid schedule to doing both is counterproductive. And so, as a dear friend of many years–Judy of Iowa–says, “Dee, go with the flow.” And looking into the lull, I realize that a “river runs through it,” and so I can go with the flow. Peace.
Dee, I’m so sorry that I didn’t see this comment before today, and here you stopped by a month ago! Oh my! I hope that your bucket is indeed getting full of blessing and you move forward with your writing schedule, and making space for your creative thoughts and efforts. It can be fuel for a healthier mind, I know, and you’re so wise to consider that! Your friend, Judy, has the right idea. Go with the flow! I try…And sometimes I’m good with it, and other times, not so much. 🙂 We can be kind to ourselves in the process, but keep working on that bucket. xx
Love this. I’m filling my bucket with hope… and lots of ❤️.
I’m so sorry, Pam, that I missed seeing your comment, written almost a month ago! I’m glad I found it today, though, and hope that your bucket is currently very full. The hope factor feels more secure as we move into a season where perhaps more immunizations are possible, and maybe, just maybe we can begin to spread our wings just a little bit more? I hope so, too! 🙂
Xo
Congratulations with a new and better future having just arrived. What to fill the bucket with? Hope for sure. And then for all people to reach out for each other.
I so admire your sentiment, Otto. I hope we can take the pain and disruption of this long and arduous pandemic season and begin to move into a kinder, and more community-minded future. I believe there are millions around the world who hope for that. We sure do. Thank you, my friend.